1. Field
The following description relates to an image processing technology suitable for processing two images taken using different exposure times.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an image is taken using a camera in a dynamic environment, the camera generally fails to obtain an image with information appropriate for dark areas and bright areas due to the limited dynamic range of the camera. A digital still camera (DSC) in current use has a dynamic range of 50 to 60 dB which is much less than the 120 to 100 dB range of the eyes.
For example, when a plurality of images are successively taken at different exposure times in a mobile environment, an Inter-Frame motion or Intra-Frame motion may occur due to the movement of the camera and/or movement of an object in the images. Accordingly, in order to obtain a clear high dynamic range (HDR) image without an artifact, the motion occurring in the image needs to be detected and compensated for.
However, when the Inter-Frame motion occurs, in general, one of the obtained images is selectively output without motion compensation or image synthesizing. Alternatively, an additional external source or the brightness of obtained images may be analyzed to selectively output a synthesized image.
Such a motion processing scheme has a limitation in automatically obtaining a clear HDR image in a dynamic environment in which the camera/object has a high degree of freedom of motion.